


Overture

by JadelynTate



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Captain America (Movies), Criminal Minds, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies), X-Men (Movies)
Genre: Clint Barton & Darcy Lewis Friendship, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Darcy likes pulling people's chains, Drabble Collection, F/M, Gen, playing fast and loose with Norse Mythology!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-26
Packaged: 2018-02-07 21:28:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1914468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadelynTate/pseuds/JadelynTate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabbles that may or may not eventually become bigger fics. Most will be Darcy-centric.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. (Don't) Kiss the Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint and Bucky may need to rethink how to spy on Darcy....

“So why did you drag me out here?” Bucky demanded, eying Barton. He’d been minding his own business, working out in the gym, when the archer had come inside and demanded Bucky go with him. Bucky had resisted at first but the moment the other man had mentioned it had to do with Darcy, Bucky had headed straight to the locker room to change.

“Check it out,” he said, motioning and he turned to try and figure out what it was Barton was so fixated on. His eyes widened and it was only Barton’s hand holding him down that kept Bucky from jumping up from behind the bush and throwing the guy making out with Darcy to the ground.

“What the hell?! Let me go!”

“No, not yet!” Barton snapped. “She’s obviously on board with the idea and if you go over and do what I think you’re thinking of doing, she’s never going to forgive you. Jesus, man, think!”

“Is there a problem here?”

The two snipers finally stopped struggling with each other, turning around. A uniformed police officer was staring down at them with a severe look on his face. Bucky looked back at Darcy but she was too busy sucking face to notice.

“Our sister didn’t tell us she was dating anyone,” Barton said, voice annoyed. “We’re just…observing.”

“Your sister,” Bucky muttered petulantly as the officer looked over at where the duo were, fuck, still kissing.

“I see,” he said and he seemed amused. “Can I offer a piece of advice, gentlemen?”

“Don’t spy on her?” Barton offered and the officer snorted.

“Hell no, spy on her as all get out,” he said. “I have a sister too—god, I still have nightmares.”

Barton and Bucky exchanged quick grins before turning back to him. “So what’s your advice?”

“Maybe hiding in a bush in Central Park isn’t the place to do your spying.” And with that, he walked off. They looked at each other quickly and then did a sweep of the surrounding area. There was a giant statue they could sit at, pretend to be talking, and Darcy probably wouldn’t notice them. Probably.

“The statue?”

“The statue.”


	2. Something There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony reminds Darcy of her favorite Disney Prince. No one else see's the connection.

Sometimes, Darcy really really liked riling Tony up. He never really knew what to do with her, as Pepper said he’d never really been forced to deal with, well, himself before and if there was anything everyone in the Tower agreed on, it was that Darcy was like a female version of Tony, only minus the suit and plus an impressive rack. Some days he gave as good as he got but other days…other days, he just reminded her of her favorite Disney prince.

“If he’s not careful, he’s gonna end up snarling over a rose in a jar one of these days,” Darcy noted as Tony walked away from their latest encounter scowling and no doubt planning revenge. Everyone but Clint looked at her funny—the archer started choking on his drink. “What? You can’t say you don’t see the parallels!”

“What parallels?” Steve asked, frowning. Clint looked like he was turning blue, so Coulson started pounding him on his back.

“He has a Ms. Potts, he’s surrounded by inanimate objects with personalities, he’s got an alternate form, and until he got said alternate form, he was, for all intents and purposes, an unmitigated jackass,” she said, holding up her fingers as she laid them all out. Blank looks met her. Darcy frowned at them all. “He’s the Beast!”

“He’s a beast?” Dr. Banner asked, looking confused and a little disturbed.

“Not _a_ beast, _the_ Beast,” she corrected and Clint, who’d been calming down, cracked up again. Confusion was still evident with the rest of the men, Betty, and Jane—Natasha and Pepper, apparently, had finally caught on and both were smirking into their drinks. Darcy let out a despairing sigh. “Okay, Steve I understand, he was a Capsicle when the movie came out, and Thor is, you know, godly, but Jesus, the rest of you have to have seen Beauty and the Beast at least once!”

There was a quick pause, as everyone let that parallel peculate in their brains.

Then Rhodey cracked up laughing.


	3. Diamond in the Rough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer's first glimpse of the woman he would one day marry was...interesting, to say the least. Criminal Minds xover

They'd been brought into New York in the wake of the Battle. Not necessarily because they understood the human mind, but in case there were any locals who went off the rails. It had happened post-911 and it had happened post-Katrina, so it was really pre-emptive more than anything else. However the team, being the team, couldn't just stay in the FBI office and had gone out to help in the clean-up. Mostly they helped with clearing pieces of buildings from the streets, helped board up broken windows and install doors. There was a surprisingly small amount of looting, which the entire team attributed to the city subconsciously deciding to stick together and not give the dead army any sort of a win. This had been a humans versus alien battle and damn if the humans were going to turn on each other now that they'd beat the bastards back.

Spencer wasn't good with physical exertion, even after however many years as an FBI agent. Mostly, he was kept to handing out water and food to workers, or helping Derek when he went installing the donated doors that had come in. JJ, having a sprained ankle, did much the same as he and though it annoyed him, he knew there was really nothing he could do about it. He was an academic through and through and everyone knew it. 

That was how he'd first seen Darcy.

The Avengers (or, at least, five of them) had come in. The volunteers had all stopped and stared but, when it was obvious they were there to help, most got over the outward hero-worship. Before long, they were simply more sets of hands working on retaking the city. 

“Miss, I'm sorry, you can't go in that section,” a uniformed police officer from LA (a volunteer) was saying when Spencer and the team had returned to work. The Avengers were working in the worst hit part of the city, just around Stark Tower. Because of the massive amounts of damage and debris, no civilian volunteers were being utilized there. And the two women huffing in front of the officer were definitely civilians. 

“Dude, seriously, you do not want to say that to Jane,” the shorter and younger of the two informed the officer as the FBI team stopped and watched. “Seriously, Agent I-Steal-Ipods-for-Fun sent us off to Norway when Thor showed up cause he thought it would be safer—which it was—but she's been pissed since we saw the news footage. She is not gonna take no for an answer until she finds out where the fuck the whackadoodle is. It's this whole big thing.”

“Civilians are not allowed,” the officer was standing firm. “Please leave.” 

The older women went into a rant then, yelling at the Officer about how she'd been up almost 64 hours because SHIELD agents were assholes and she'd been unable to get a flight into New York and Darcy had had to drive from Pittsburg and did this man understand how terrifying that was? Spencer could see Hotch and Rossi both smiling slightly as they listened to the woman continue to rant. She was angry, yes, but a blind man could hear the pain and heartache in the woman's voice as she demanded access to the Avengers so she could smack the Norse God in the head. Behind him, Spencer heard JJ and Emily both snicker. 

“Arms!” the younger woman suddenly yelled, waving her hands erratically over her head. “Agent Bow-Man, over here!” 

The archer, who'd been introduced to them as Agent Barton, looked over in amusement and concern. His brow furrowed a moment as he blinked at the girl before Spencer saw recognition. 

“Miss Lewis, Dr. Foster, aren't you supposed to be in Norway?” he called, dropping a chunk of concrete to come over. The rest of the Avengers stopped to watch, curious. The officer's eyes widened at the easy validation of everything the women had been saying about knowing the Avenger. 

“Well, we were until Jane freaked the fuck out and got us the first available flights back to the States,” the younger woman, Miss Lewis, Darcy, said. Her hands went to her hips. “Seriously, what the fuck was up with sending us to Norway? You know Jane and Thor have that epic doomed romance thing going on. You were in New Mexico, you saw it!” 

“It was for your protection,” Agent Barton said, frowning. “And its a good thing they sent you away, Loki was trying to find you to use against his brother. Both of you.” 

Darcy's face paled but she stood firm, to Spencer's surprise. “Still, you couldn't have just told Jane that instead of arranging for the 'chance in a lifetime offer?'” she demanded. “I'm honestly not sure what she's more pissed off about—that it was arranged by you guys or that she still hasn't seen Thor.” 

Agent Barton chuckled slightly before looking at the Officer. “I'm gonna take them both into the Tower—Thor's still on guard duty until we can send them home and I have a feeling if I keep Romeo and Juliet away from each other any longer, one of them might kill me.” 

“Don't be ridiculous, Arms,” Miss Lewis waved it away as Dr. Foster took that as confirmation and dashed towards the entrance of the Stark Tower. “They'd never sully themselves like that.” 

“That's a relief,” he replied, somewhat sarcastic. The woman smirked.

“Yeah, they'd never do it,” she said. “That's what they have me for.” 

Agent Barton frowned. “What?” 

“Dude, you do recall how I met Thor, right?” Miss Lewis asked, hands going back to her hips. “Seriously, everyone kept laughing at the irony—I know I was.” 

The Agent's lips twisted in a wry smile. “You tased the God of Thunder,” he said and she nodded, either ignoring or not seeing the surprise on everyone nearby. Spencer felt more than saw his entire team trying to stifle laughter and surprise. 

“Darn tootin,” she agreed smugly, arms crossing just under her breasts as she leveled the agent with a stare. “If I was willing to do that to him, what do you think I'd be willing to do to you? I can be horribly horribly evil when I want to be—and you'd never see it coming, SHIELD monkey or no SHIELD monkey.” 

“Warning duly noted,” he said dryly, obviously not too concerned by the threat. There was a sudden boom from direction of the Tower, along with a huge crash of thunder in the cloudless skies. Miss Lewis snorted as Captain America—Rogers, he'd been introduced as—immediately went inside, followed quickly by Iron Man. 

“Oh, I bet Thor just came from seeing her; I know Jane probably did,” she said and more than one person listening in grimaced at the mental picture. 

“Come on, lets get you inside before Thor finds out his girlfriend's handmaiden is out here alone and freaks out,” Barton said with a sigh. The two of them headed for the entrance of the Tower, slipping in between wreckage as Miss Lewis argued that she was NOT Jane's handmaiden, she was her lab assistant and personal feeder. Agent Barton ignored her to add:

“And for God's sake, don't tell Stark you tased Thor, it'll just give him ideas.” 

“Can I tell him about how Jane called him a piece of evidence? Or that she gave him her ex's clothes to wear when he didn't have anything from Earth?” 

“No.”

“How about how we met Thor when she hit him with her van? Twice?” 

“ _No._ ”

“Aw, you're no fun.”


	4. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy has a very...interesting...family background.

After everything that had happened, after Raven, Eric, Nixon, and Logan, Charles had decided he needed to ensure a better future than the one he'd seen through the Wolverine's mind. So he'd started the school up again, found the people he'd seen and kept them close. Hank. Scott. Ororo.

Jean. 

He'd done things differently, and knowing of the possibility, he'd kept himself from creating the Phoenix, even on accident. Jean had learned to control herself, had learned to co-exist with the darker side her power brought out. Her death had been avoided with the simple act of _trusting_ in their symbiotic ability to teach and learn. 

It was an approach he'd taken with every single student that walked through his doors, even the ones that sorely tested his patience. If he didn't trust them, they'd never learn to trust themselves. Raven had taught him that and it was something he'd lost for a while.

Raven, Eric, and he were still on separate sides of the mutant issue, not that he could blame them for their views. But there was a connection there that would never disappear, no matter how much he sometimes thought they wanted it to. So occasionally, he found himself with students walking into the mansion with the message that Raven or Eric had said they'd be safe with him. Raven sent him the ones that needed a home, something she knew from experience he could give them. Eric sent him the ones that he knew would never follow his views, who were still too innately hopeful, but who needed to be kept safe.

Which was how he'd managed to get Kitty. Then Jubilee, St. John, Piotr, Clarice, and James. Then came Lorna. The “packages,” as some of the students had taken to calling them, tapered off for a while after Eric sent his daughter. It had been several years, in fact, until he got the next one.

Charles looked up when he felt a new mind approaching the mansion, coming from the front. A second later, he heard Jean call and ask him if she should send a student to the front gates, where the person, young and nervous, was hesitating. 

“Kitty,” he called out. The girl looked up from where she'd been reading the next chapter in their book. “We have a possible student at the gates. Will you please go and see if they would like to come in?” 

“Sure,” she agreed easily, leaving her book where it was as she stood. Some of the other students watched her go but then quickly went back to work (though, admittedly, all were more distracted than before). Charles wheeled over to the window and watched as Kitty walked quickly but calmly towards the front gates. _Kitty, may I observe this through you?_ he asked quietly and unobtrusively slipped into the back of her mind when she gave the affirmative. It was one of the reasons he'd asked Kitty, instead of one of the others—she was much more comfortable letting him and Jean watch through her eyes than the other older students. And the one thing he'd picked up from their mystery student was Raven's very unique blue form. He felt more than saw Kitty falter and quickly assured her. _I believe we have another “package.” I should have said so before. I apologize._

 _It's no problem,_ he heard her response as her steps picked back up. _I was just startled. Do you really think Mystique sent her?_

 _Perhaps,_ he replied and then went silent when she/they turned the bend and caught sight of the girl through the bars. She was brunette, with long riotous curls framing a young, painfully young, face. She couldn't have been more than ten years old. In jeans, a ratty brown jacket, and boots that looked like they would fall apart at any moment, she was obviously in need of a home. She was pacing, didn't realize she/they were approaching, and was muttering to herself. 

“This is ridiculous,” she was saying as the neared. “This isn't...its some posh place, no place for someone like me. Mysti was just being funny. Well, haha, jokes on me!” 

She was slowly becoming more worked up and from experience, both Kitty and Charles knew that was not a great thing for young, possibly uncontrolled, mutants. Before Charles could even ask Kitty to try and calm her down, the girl stopped just outside the gates and spoke up. 

“You call her Mysti?” the phasing mutant asked incredulously. The other girl's head snapped up and she stared at Kitty. “And you're not, you know, all broken bones? I saw her break a man's femur when he called her 'Honey.' And he was being nice!” 

“Uh...” 

Charles chuckled and that got Kitty to start. “Right, I'm Kitty Pryde,” she said. “Mystique sent me here a couple years ago. Did she send you?” 

“She said I would be safe here...and something about her brother's penchant for snarky young woman, I wasn't exactly paying attention at that part,” she admitted. 

In the mansion, Charles' breath caught as his surprise forced him from Kitty's mind. Raven had called him her brother again...

“Bring her in, Kitty,” he murmured aloud, knowing the girl would hear the echo in her mind. “Tell her we have a room for her.” 

_My name is Charles Xavier, Darcy, and I am Mystique's brother,_ he said calmly. He smiled when she just twitched at the unexpected voice in her head—no doubt she'd been warned about it, like all the others Raven had sent him. _Welcome to my school for mutants. You are safe here._

**~~*~~**

That night, when the students were all in bed and the teachers were having a nightcap, Charles went down to Cerebro. He told only Jean of what he was going to do, but of course all his former students knew it anyway. 

It was easy to find Raven, despite not looking for her for a few years. She was watching television, her blue form glinting like sapphires in the flickering light of the set. She didn't so much as blink as his visage appeared in front of her. 

“I take it Darcy made it to you?” she asked, not looking from the set. 

“ _You could have brought her yourself,_ ” he said mildly. She snorted. 

“Nice try,” she said. She paused and then finally looked up at him. “You know who she is?”

He'd suspected it, with the way Darcy's eyes had glinted when they'd met. He'd recognized the tick from when he and Raven had been working on her own control all those years ago. Though most mutants got their powers from a recessive gene their father's gave them, children born to female mutants were known to have inherited their mother's gene. 

“ _Is there a father I should contact?_ ” The look Raven sent him spoke volumes and, as usual, Charles felt a pang at what could have been. “ _Ah. Does he know?_ ” 

“No,” she said. “I was gone before he even awoke.”

“ _Where has she been, Raven?_ ” As far as he knew, none of the other children Raven had sent had ever seen her....

“A couple who wanted a child,” she answered and there was sadness there. It didn't take a telepath to know what must have happened. “They supported us; I'd seen them protesting Friends of Humanity. I gave her to them. I went back to see them a few weeks ago.”

“ _Their last name?_ ” he asked, already planning to look into it. 

“Lewis,” she replied. She paused and then stared straight in his eyes. “They were killed, Charles. They were killed because I gave them the daughter they wanted and she turned out to be one of us.”

Charles bowed his head, heart restricting. One day, he told himself. One day things would get better. It had to. 

“ _I won't tell her,_ ” he said. “ _Not until I think she'll be able to handle it._ ” 

“And you'll take care of her?” Raven asked, suddenly looking fierce and concerned and unsure all at once. “You'll keep her safe?” 

“ _Of course I will, Raven,_ ” he said, kneeling down in front of her. He took her hands in his, wishing he could be there in person. This was but a pale imitation to reassuring his younger sister as he used to. “ _I will always look after the children of the world, you know that._ ”

“I'm not asking that, Charles,” she said harshly. “I know you'd take care of every orphan in the world if you could. What I want to know is will you take care of _her_?”

And he understood, then, what she was asking. 

“ _Always, Raven,_ ” he said firmly. He gave a half-hearted smile when she relaxed. “ _She is my niece. She shall know nothing else but family here._ ”

2014  
Darcy watched in amusement as the Avengers all prepped themselves for the meeting with the X-Men. This had long been in the works by Coulson, the still thought dead Fury, and Uncle Charles. Mutants and other supers working together toward a common goal—world acceptance and safety. 

Tony was fussing with his electronics—he wanted to see if his scanning abilities could pick out mutants—and Steve was glowering at the man for turning what he saw as a meeting of the minds into a science experiment. Bruce was trying to meditate in the corner and not succeeding, if his body language said anything. Thor was talking animatedly with Jane about these new warriors and how he'd heard one of them could control the weather. Clint and Natasha were talking quietly in another corner, tense and wary—she'd heard that they'd never had good luck with mutants before when working in an official capacity and were understandably nervous about all this. Sam and Rhodey were both switching between watching Steve and Tony argue and watching Clint and Natasha talk. Pepper was talking with Coulson himself, while Coulson's team just sat in the corner and gaped at everything (Darcy thought Coulson's introduction of his old team to his new could have had better timing).

As for her boyfriend, he was looking more and more like he was going to puke—he, along with Jane and Coulson, were the only three who knew exactly who was coming and what they meant to Darcy. Darcy slipped a hand through his and gave it a squeeze. “Relax,” she murmured just as she felt her uncle gently prod to let her know they were on their way up. JARVIS announced it seconds later.

“I can't,” he gritted out through clenched teeth. “I'm meeting--” 

“Bucky, you okay?” Steve called out suddenly and the man at her side tensed up even further before forcing himself to relax. 

“Fine, Steve,” he finally said. “Not feeling well.” 

“We have make-up,” Clint offered with an unholy glint in his eye. “Make you look less like death warmed over.” 

“No thanks,” he said as Darcy got a picture of her boyfriend meeting the family in cross-dress. She broke down in giggles that only got worse when her uncle's voice invaded her mind. 

_At least you found someone else who has no problem in changing their appearance,_ Uncle Charles' voice was exceeding dry and amused and in a few minutes, everyone was going to be wondering just how someone like Darcy ended up from stock like that...if Bucky didn't own up here soon, at any rate. He looked horrid.

 _Tell him to relax,_ Jean broke in. _We won't bite....much._

Darcy snorted a laugh that did nothing for her boyfriends frame of mind. She leaned into him. “Seriously, calm down. They're not going to bite you—”

 _Much! I said much!_ Jean said in her head. 

“—they LIKE you,” she finished, ignoring her pseudo-aunt's mental comment. 

“They haven't met me!” he whispered back and Darcy glanced up just in time to see Steve give them a weird look.

“What do you think I talk about when I call home? Cause it ain’t always Jane.” she said and Bucky's eyes widened. She patted his arm as the elevator doors opened to reveal the X-Men. “Trust me, they like you.”

The X-Men all filed out of the elevator, one after another, with Uncle Charles and a VERY familiar brunette bringing up the rear. Darcy blinked in shock for a moment before she practically launched herself at the pair. 

“YOU CAME!” she shouted, wrapping her arms around her mother. She could feel the other woman's shape change as she clung to her mother's form but it didn't bother her. 

“I think I'm going to be sick,” she vaguely heard Bucky say right before Jane and Jean both started laughing. 

“Anyone else lost here?” Tony asked as she finally let go of the shapeshifter and bent down to hug her uncle. “And when did Mystique get added to the guest list?”

“This morning,” Coulson answered, stepping forward with a hand outstretched. “Thank you for coming, Mystique.” 

“I wanted to meet you,” she said simply.“And him.” 

Darcy turned just in time to see Bucky swallow heavily before forcing himself over to them stiffly. “Sir. Ma'am,” He nodded at her uncle and then her mother.

Mystique stared at him as Uncle Charles and Darcy just watched. They knew better than to interfere. Finally, her mother smiled tightly and held out a hand. “You hurt my daughter, and her brother will teleport you wherever I ask him to, including the arctic circle. And that's after I tell her father and let him deal with you.”

“Oooh, is Kurt with you?” she asked, clapping her hands as Bucky just smiled, finally relaxing as he shook hands with the shape-shifter. The soft titter to her right made her turn to find Rogue and Kitty grinning at something just beyond her. She turned to find all the Avengers, minus Jane and Coulson and plus the agent-turned-director's neophytes, staring in shock. She blinked and then smiled.

“Remember how I said the X-Men were awesomesauce and you should all relax?” she asked as she let her hair and facial features slip back to her secondary form. “I may have said that cause I was raised by them.”


	5. The Lioness Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy's skulking about Stark Tower...

Darcy looked around furtively as she slowly inched her way through Stark Tower. The lights were dim, the emergency floor lights the only illumination in the windowless corridor. There was no one around that she could see and she wished she had not volunteered to go find Jane—her best friend totally owed her for this. She’d seen how this sort of thing usually ended in the horror movies—she was the girl Darcy yelled at.

An intersection was just ahead and Darcy took a deep breath. As she prepared herself to look around the corner, something occurred to her and she physically face-palmed. She was an idiot. Rummaging as quietly as she could in her purse she finally pulled out the little mirror Natasha had randomly given her the day before. Squatting down, she slowly pushed it around the corner. The breath she’d been holding released in a whoosh at the empty hall leading to Jane’s lab. She could just make out the scientist working on something through the clear, bullet-proof glass. Darcy didn’t know whether to be relieved or annoyed that the other brunette was not taking this with the gravitas it needed.

Darcy slowly began her way forward, not easing up on the slow and steady (she wasn’t an idiot—the moment you thought everything was fine was the moment in which things went FUBAR). One step, two, three, fo—thwack!

“Oh, c’mon! No fair!” she cried out, straightening in indignation. “I haven’t even gotten to Jane yet!”

“All’s fair in love and war, sweetheart,” Bucky’s voice came from…where the hell was it coming from? “The bad guys won’t wait till you’re ready.”

“They should,” she grumbled, plucking the fake bullet Stark had made specifically for this from her thigh. “This blows.”

Before Bucky could respond (if he was even still around), the earwig she was wearing crackled to life. “Join Dr. Foster, Darcy,” Steve ordered. “Pepper’s a go in five.”

Stepping into the lab, she glared at Jane when the scientists popped up from a table. “Got you too, huh?” she asked sympathetically.

“You could have warned us,” Darcy responded with a pout.

“I got shot in the head,” the smaller woman said matter of fact. Darcy winced. “There’s no more talking when you get shot in the head. Where did you get shot?”

“Thigh,” she said. “No instant death for me—bleeding out was my fate this time. Thanks a lot, Bucky!”

There was a pop, a squeal, and then Bucky responding with a cheerful “You’re welcome!”

“He is so not getting laid tonight,” she muttered. “Who’s idea was it to have Bucky be the villain, anyway?” she asked as Pepper came storming in with her own pout. The fake bullet that had taken her out was still desperately clinging to her jacket—she’d gotten hit in the heart, apparently.

“He hasn’t done it yet,” Pepper answered as she took a seat next to Jane and plucked the offending piece of putty like substance off. “And Natasha and Steve both thought it was time that changed.”

“Remind me to withhold cookies from them next time I bake,” Darcy told the two women as Steve announced Betty’s turn.

“How far did you two get, by the way?” Jane asked, pulling up the excel spreadsheet Darcy had created after their first sim. All of Jane’s stat’s were already filled in and Darcy was gratified that the scientists hadn’t gotten farther than she herself had.

“First stairwell,” Pepper said. “Betty’ll probably get farther.”

“She always does, it comes with being an army brat,” Jane said, eyes flickering over Pepper’s jacket. In the column labelled CoD (Cause of Death) they all had “sniper” and as Darcy watched, Pepper’s LoMI (Location of Mortal Injury) became “heart.” Darcy’s info quickly followed as she provided it. On another screen, a scan of Darcy’s body was updated with a new marker on her thigh, joining the ones won her chest, stomach, neck, head, and knees. Not for the first time did she think this was all ridiculously morbid.

They’d begun doing these simulations for two reasons. The first was to train the non-avenging members of the team how to avoid any bad guys in the Tower and how to get from Point A (which changed all the time) to Point B (which was the reinforced and centralized Astrophysics lab) without being killed. So far, none of them had yet managed this feat, though Darcy and Betty had both come close a few times. The second reason for the sim was to figure out the Tower’s security weaknesses and strengths and fix them as needed. The recording stats part were to help train them all in self-defense and preservation.

There was a pop and Darcy glanced over to see Betty scowling as she got up from the floor. She’d beat Darcy by about two feet, it looked like, and Betty’s LoMI was her head. Steve called the all clear, and told everyone to meet in the commons rooms upstairs. It was debrief time. Bucky met her at the door, a grin on his face that stayed even when she smacked his arm.

“You suck,” she muttered but still allowed him to guide her upstairs. She hoped they had ice cream—she needed some pick-me-up food.

~~*~~

“How come they all got quick deaths and mine was a slow one?” Darcy asked later that night, after the debrief and dinner were all done. Bucky looked over at her, chest bare as he stripped for bed.

“Because you zigged when I expected you to zag,” he replied ruefully. “Threw my shot off.” He was quiet for several seconds, just watching as she slipped out of her bra with a relieved sigh. “You probably would have made it to the safe room though, if it had been real….and then you would’ve died.”

“Funny,” she said and then paused, half out of her pants. “Wait, you mean you missed?!”

“I still got a kill shot in,” he replied with a look. “Trust me, that’s not missing.”

She frowned but didn’t disagree (she couldn’t) as they finished undressing. “How did I do, though?” she asked, slipping into bed. He quickly joined her and pulled until she was half sprawled on top of him.

“Good, especially with the mirror,” he replied. “I fully expect you to make it to the lab next week, with what Stark has planned.”

“What does Stark have planned?” she asked suspiciously, resting her chin on his chest to look into his face. Her boyfriend grinned.

“He’s giving you weapons…against the BUS team.”

Darcy stared blankly for a moment before an evil little grin spread across her face. She was very good friends with Skye and had worked with Fitz and Simmons for over three months when they came to the Tower to recuperate following the whole SHIELD fallout. Recently, she knew, Grant Ward had rejoined the team after it had been revealed he’d been programmed like Bucky had been. Still, given what he’d done to her friends….

“Remind me to give Steve and Natasha’s cookies to Stark next time I bake.”


	6. One of Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor wasn't the only Asgardian to come and help deal with Loki...only this one hadn't always been an Asgardian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said not all of them would be Darcy-centric? This one isn't. Its a crossover with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Also, its fairly choppy at first because its NOT FINISHED. As in, I wrote scenes, not a full chapter or anything. Most of the things here could be considered drabbles and one-shots, if you squinted. This really can't, but I really did love the idea so I'm posting what I have. Also, PLAYING FAST AND LOOSE WITH NORSE MYTHOLOGY FOR THE WIN!

Something was coming, of that Thor was fairly certain. It had been years since he felt something to this degree, but he could feel it in everything that made him a son of Odin—something was coming. 

**~~*~~**

“Buffy…” 

“No,” her sister said, shaking her head. “No. I won’t…I won’t let you.” 

“I love you,” she whispered and then using the only advantage she had against the slayer—the other’s surprise—she pushed past her and dived into the portal. As she was held suspended in the air, the energy coursing through her, Dawn wished she could have made her last moment look spectacular, maybe a swan-dive or something, not the frantic drop she’d ended with. 

“Goodbye.”

Then everything went dark. 

**~~*~~**

A storm was building around the ship, something Thor swore wasn’t his doing. "It does, however, have an Asgardian tinge to it,” he allowed when Fury asked. Natasha tensed even further—there were already too many Asgardians on the Helicarrier than she cared for, they didn’t need anymore. 

That thought came precisely four seconds before a flash of lightning lit up the ship and a thump announced the arrival of someone new on the bridge office. 

“Who the fuck are you?!” Fury demanded as everyone save Thor went into defensive positions. 

The figure was tall, easily taller than Natasha, with silver armor similar to what they had on file for the Lady Sif. However, whereas the warrior goddess had crimson in her armor, this figure, this woman, had a bright vibrant blue. Over that, she wore a hood and cloak that had varying hues of blues, purples, greens, and gray's that, when Natasha looked too long, made her somewhat somewhat seasick.

“Sága, why have you come?” Thor asked, approaching the figure cautiously.

“Why have I come?” a soft, angry voice asked. “I don’t know, Thor. Why do you think I came?” 

The Asgardian winced, never a good sign. Natasha's hands never lifted from her gun, even though Stark and even Rogers had relaxed. “I apologize, I know why you came,” the thunder-wielder admitted. “I simply am surprised…” 

Some small hidden part of her was laughing uproariously at how deep Thor was digging his own hole. Most of her, however, was on alert for danger. The woman tore off her hood, revealing a soft face framed by dark brown hair, curled luxuriously around and through a circlet of silver atop of her head. Her beauty was as breathtaking as Thor’s handsomeness was overwhelming and she could see more than one person, male and female alike, suck in deep breaths of surprise. Her eyes, large and glittering blue, stared at Thor a moment before she snorted. 

“Well,” she said and her voice had lost a good deal of her anger. “At least some things haven’t changed.” 

Thor winced again. “Sága, why did you come? What do you hope to accomplish here?” There was a pause and then he added, “And who is dealing with the negotiations with Elfheim?”

“Do you really think you should have been the one sent, Thor?” she asked, frowning at him and obviously ignoring his last question. “After everything that happened before he fell, after your would-be coronation?” 

“He hardly speaks to me,” Thor said and there was little doubt in Natasha’s mind who they were talking about. “What makes you think you would have any chance?”

“Maybe because I never made him feel like he was unwanted!” she said and there was the anger again. “You’re part of his problem, Thor—you should have never have been the one sent!”

“The Allfather—”

“Is a fool,” the woman said and Thor frowned deeply. She tilted her head slightly. “A kind-hearted fool, perhaps, but he is a fool nonetheless. He is why Loki fell, he is why all this came to pass—He had enough sense to send your pompous ass to Midgard to learn humility, to be hesitant to name you king in his place, but his parenting in regards to Loki has always sucked!”

Natasha narrowed her eyes—that last bit didn't sound very Asgardian. No one else seemed to notice.

“Alright, who the hell are you?!” Fury broke in once again. “Thor, who is she?!” 

“Care how you speak to me, mortal,” the woman said, rising to her full height and turning to face the dark-skinned man. The look she shot the director was one of dismissal. “He might be attacking Midgardians, but Loki is our concern, not yours.” 

“Like hell he isn’t!” Fury exploded. “He turned my people into mindless zombies! He’s killed!” 

“And as the prince of a foreign nation, does he not have immunity from these crimes?” she demanded and Natasha saw Fury and Hill both startle at the question. “If you wish to make an alliance with Asgard, 'taking care of' the prince heir may not be the best way to go about it.” She paused and then continued, more calmly. “Make no mistake, he will answer for his actions here. The Allfather can be very…malicious when coming up with punishments. And I myself have always been fond of Midgard, so he gets to deal with me as well. But I can also assure you, Director Nicholas Fury--he will not answer to you.”

“Thor…” Fury growled. 

Thor turned a pleading look on the woman who rolled her eyes and huffed. “Fine,” she sniffed at whatever she'd gleaned from the prince. “For those of you completely out of your element—which is everyone—I am Lady Sága, Archivist, Lady to the Queen, and Princess of Asgard, among a few other things.” 

“Such as being my sister,” Thor added somewhat sheepishly. The look the Lady Sága shot him was full of irritated affection. 

“I think they understood that part, brother,” she said. They smiled at each other a moment before the woman’s face went back to his uncaring attention. She turned back to the staring Fury. “I would see my other brother. Now.”

**~~*~~**

Thirty minutes was spent arguing about her being let in to see Loki but eventually Fury agreed when Sága had basically told him coming to the bridge had been a courtesy—she could have just gone straight to the other Asgardian and bypassed the leaders of the ship altogether. However, Fury had refused to allow Lady Sága to see Loki without at least three armed people that were not Asgardian, so Natasha, Steve, Tony, and Coulson all followed the two aliens down to the cell while Banner, Hill, and Fury watched the feed.

"Anyone else wondering where the sister came from?" Tony asked. "Cause I researched Norse mythology after New Mexico and...

"Don't believe everything you read, Mr. Stark," Sága advised from where she was walking just ahead of Natasha and the billionaire. "Also, I'm adopted like Loki. I'm not originally from Asgard."

"Where are you from then?" Rogers asked but neither she, nor Thor, answered.

"Well, joy, more visit--Sága," Loki said, voice gone flat and emotionless where as a moment before it had been filled with malicious good humor. "What are you doing here?" 

"Is that any way to talk to me, Bróðir?" Sága asked casually, one brow raised as she looked Loki over. "You've changed, Loki, and not for the better. Your hair in particular has seen better days." 

"I would have to disagree," Loki said, standing in the cage and moving forwards, until he was inches from the glass. "My eyes have been opened."

"And who did that opening for you, hmmm?" Sága asked, her own eyes narrowing. “Because I do not believe you did it yourself.” 

“Leave, Sága,” Loki said after a moment of everyone wondering just what the princess had meant. “Return to Asgard.” 

It hit Natasha then, that this woman was someone Loki cared for. His ordering her to return to Asgard could only mean he didn't want her here, didn't want her in danger. She spared a moment to wonder if they could use that against him before realizing, no, Thor would never allow it. More to the point, the princess was right—going against the children of the leaders of Asgard would probably not turn out well for Earth.

“No,” Sága replied coldly to Loki's request. “You want power, you want Midgard to bow down to you in fear—because that's the only way they will—you will have to start with me.” Then she said something in a language Natasha didn't understand but had Thor blanching, so she didn't think it was anything good.

Loki's eyes widened a moment before his expression shuttered and he turned away from them. At first, she thought Loki was simply avoiding having to look at the woman but then...then she realized he was shaking.

“What is happening to him?” Rogers and Stark asked at the same time. Thor didn't answer but from the tension running through his body, she didn't think he knew. Sága cocked her head to the side and turned to the Russian and Coulson. 

“The men he took, you said they didn't seem to be in their own minds?” she asked and Coulson nodded as Natasha stiffened.

“His staff,” the senior agent replied. “It did something to them.” 

The Asgardian frowned a moment before she looked sharply at him. “Their eyes?”

“They turned blue,” he replied and Thor went utterly, utterly still as he turned to stare at Sága in disbelief and horror.

“You cannot believe...” 

“Who else could live between the realms and have this power over others?” she asked, turning away and down so Natasha couldn't see her face. “Not even Loki could withstand him for long without an anchor in reality.”

“Brother...” Thor whispered brokenly, turning back to the cage, where Loki had finally stopped shaking. He was utterly silent for a second before he suddenly screamed and a wave of power flew out from him and knocked Rogers, Stark, and Coulson all off their feet. Natasha's gun was steady as she stared at the straightening figure, blue mist lifting off his skin. Then he turned, face equal parts angry and horrified as he stared at Sága. She slowly raised her own head to stare at him in sympathy. 

“Inform the All-Father....” he started and then paused. “Inform him that Thanos is preparing to return....and if he has love in his heart for his adopted son, he will allow me the final strike to bring the wretched creature down.”

Thor swore viciously as Sága's lips quirked. “I'm pretty sure Thanos didn't expect this,” she noted and Thor practically growled. Sága smirked. “I told you you would be strong enough to resist him if you ever had to, Bróðir.” 

“Without my anchor, I wasn't,” he responded and he seemed tired all of a sudden—Natasha had the nagging suspicion she knew what had happened and she didn't like it one bit. The look he leveled the other Asgardian, however, was filled with nothing but love and gratitude. “As always, Sága, you have saved me from the worst parts of myself.”

“Yeah, well, the goddess of truth thing probably has something to do with it,” she replied cheekily and then turned to Coulson, Rogers, Stark, Natasha, and the just arrived SHIELD strike team, lead by Fury himself. “Look at his eyes.”

Natasha hesitated a moment but when Stark sucked in a deep breath, she turned. It was only years of training that kept her from following Stark and giving an outward reaction. 

No longer were they the same shade of eery blue as Clint's—now they were green. 

Fury swore, immediately putting two and two together. The rest were not far behind them and Natasha could see Rogers' eyes practically flash in pure anger as he figured it out.

“He was under whatever control our people are?” Coulson asked and Sága nodded. “And you're certain its not a trick that its broken.”

“I have the power of truth, Agent Coulson, in addition to being the goddess of knowledge,” she answered with a serious expression. “In short, I am the only person Loki has never been able to lie to successfully. He's free.”

“Aye,” Thor agreed. “When Sága turns her gaze on matters, all things are revealed to her. Tis why she is the All-Father's most trusted ambassador to the rest of the Nine Realms. No one and none can escape her sight when she turns it upon them.” Fury was still cursing and issuing orders, but Thor's words had an effect on Hill, who'd actually been listening. More than likely this was the woman they'd be dealing with if they ever tried making a treaty with Asgard.

“So, basically you're omniscient,” Stark noted warily. She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yes and no,” she replied. “It's true that all knowledge is available to me, both present and past. I cannot see the future and in order to understand something, I must first question it. It's why I didn't know of Thanos' involvement until now. Now that I have questioned it, I know it to be true.”

“So you're a human version of Google,” Rogers compared and Natasha hid a smile at the way Stark did a double take at the captain.

Sága gave a slow, amused nod. “An apt analogy, I suppose, though I am infinitely more powerful than a simple computer program.” 

“Do you know of a way to release our people from this Thanos' control?” Natasha asked, watching her carefully. Now that she was looking for it and the woman was facing her, she could see the way Sága's eyes briefly misted over, resembling someone who'd become partially blind. Natasha wondered, when she was finding truth or whatever it was she did, if the Asgardian became physically blind in the process. If she did, it would be a weakness they could use if needed. She'd said she couldn't see the future so she wouldn't see any attacks coming... 

The woman's blue eyes cleared up. She didn't look happy. “Loki was the unwitting conduit,” she said, nodding in her brother's direction. The god of mischief was talking quietly to Thor and Rogers through the glass. “But to make one as deeply imbedded in Thanos' control as Loki was takes a physical touch...because of this, the control on your people is weaker, much weaker. There are two ways they can be released—if they find an anchor to hold onto, to keep them in reality. Or if they got hit really hard on the head.”

“How hard?” Natasha asked instantly, not sure any of the people, even Clint, would have something like that...or if they could even figure out how to use it to break the control. She had a feeling it wasn't as simple as wishing it to be so.

“A mild concussion would be enough at this point,” she answered. “If Loki had still been acting as the conduit, your people would have to already be latching onto an anchor in order for the hit to work and it would have to be a moderate concussion at the very least.” 

“So basically it'll be easier to free our people now that Loki's not the conduit,” Coulson noted and she nodded. 

“Precisely,” she answered as Rogers walked over to Fury. 

“Sir, according to Loki we've got inbound rogues,” he said. “They're goal was to cripple the helicarrier and release the Hulk.” 

“Why the ever loving fuck did you want to release the Hulk?!” Fury demanded, whirling on the two Asgardians watching everything. 

“Because if you didn't successfully contain him, he'd run away from the fight,” Loki answered. “Either way, he wouldn't be part of the battle.” 

“And you didn't want the Hulk in the battle,” Stark said. “Which, by the way, where is it going to take place? Having a location would help tremendously.” 

Before Loki could answer, the Helicarrier was hit with a massive explosion, throwing everyone save Thor, Loki, and Sága off their feet. As Fury demanded answers and Hill raced out to assess damage and take control of the bridge, Natasha stayed where she was. She wasn't sure she believed any of this so until she was ordered otherwise, she'd remain with their...visitors. 

Sága's eyes milked over a moment before she turned to her brother in exasperation. “Really?”

He seemed to understand what she was talking about because the black-haired Asgardian shrugged. “It seemed a good idea at the time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you didn't figure it out, Sága=Dawn. My idea was that she gets elevated to immortal goddess princess status by Odin (and with help from Idunn) sometime after she arrives in Asgard and becomes close to Frigga. The plan had been to explain how this all happened as I went through the Avengers Movie and beyond but with bonus!Dawn and Loki. And no one on the team besides Thor and Loki would have been aware (initially) that she'd been born and raised (and technically died) in an alternate version of Earth.


End file.
